Gender-based violence was predictable, and preventable, fallout of lockdown

The National Commission for Women sounded an alarm in early April that domestic violence cases had spiked in just the first week of the COVID-19 lockdown, as had distress calls. This was echoed by the UN Secretary-General who was used the term "shadow pandemic". Since then, across the world, police, shelters and helplines have confirmed that although the incidence of domestic violence was always higher than we liked to admit, there was an alarming increase in its frequency during the pandemic. Women, and gender and sexual minorities were confined indoors with their abusers and even making a call or stepping out for shelter were likely to be very challenging.

Women’s Groups in India, Pakistan Have a Role to Play in Afghanistan’s Reconstruction

If ever Gayatri Spivak’s narrative of ‘white men saving brown women from brown men’ rang true it was in the discourse of ‘liberating’ Afghan women, mobilised to morally justify bombing a country continents away and of plunging its people into a war that “they did not ask for”. In four decades of violent strife as intra and international players laid waste Afghanistan’s land and society, Afghan women’s protection and rights were weaponised in the geopolitical manoeuvrings of powerful global and regional actors, driven by ideological and strategic interests.

Women in War-Ravaged Afghanistan Fight Back for Their Rights

Bullets, bombs, tyranny and torture. Children crying for food, civilians struggling to survive, women unable to walk out of their homes freely. When we are not under siege from bombs and landmines, ordinary Afghans suffer from hunger, natural hazards and poverty.

Pandemic as Mirror

The Coronavirus/ COVID-19 Pandemic is a complex emergency, a term which was used a great deal two decades ago to capture the reality that bad things rarely happen in isolation of other bad things. When disasters are layered over conflicts which are layered over structural inequalities, for instance, you have a complex emergency.

When feminism meets foreign policy

On 9 January 2020, Mexico announced that it was adopting a feminist foreign policy. What would this mean? According to their official press release, it aligns Mexican foreign policy with the government’s commitment “to reduce and eliminate structural differences, gender gaps and inequalities”. Over the next four years, Mexico will promote gender equality and human rights in its relations with others, promote gender parity within its foreign ministry and ensure that the ministry is violence-free and safe for all.

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Lookouts for International Relations

Complex emergencies, such as this pandemic, are disruptors in the normal business of international relations. There are natural physical effects such as when floods that alter the course of a river that demarcates boundaries or when a disease claims the lives of significant leaders. The actions of governments in the wake of an emergency also have an impact on international relations. While the crisis is still unfolding and we cannot make definitive pronouncements for a long time yet, it is possible to identify areas to watch.

Press Conference: Women Regional Network and Women Advocacy Committee on Recent Peace Dialogue

Afghanistan is again in a critical situation. The peace negotiation process between the Taliban and US has led to wide-spread insecurity and enhanced fears among the Afghan people as they know nothing about the content of the so-called Peace Agreement. Afghan’s future is being negotiated without the inclusion of the Afghan people. The Women’s Regional Network and the Women’s Advocacy Committee express serious concerns that the US Special Representative to these talks, Ambassador Khalilzad, has put the hard won gains of the Afghan women in jeopardy. No one has suffered more at the hands of the Taliban than the women of Afghanistan.  However, Afghan women have made enormous strides since the Taliban Government was overthrown in 2001 by US forces. Women’s rights are now protected in the Afghan Constitution giving them equality in every respect including the right to vote, along with the right to access education, justice and health care.

No women, no peace, no democracy, By Swarna Rajagopalan

Recently, more than 75 members of the US Congress signed a letter urging the US administration to keep its statutory commitment to promote women’s participation in peace processes by insisting on the inclusion of Afghan women in the talks with the Taliban. This followed an intensive advocacy campaign by Afghan women and their supporters in the US to rally such support. As I have shared my excitement about the successful advocacy efforts in the US on the issue of Afghan women’s participation, I have had people look back at me blankly. Afghanistan? War? Taliban? Women, what women?

Congress sends letter to Secretary Pompeo on Afghan Women

A bi-partisan group of Members of Congress sent a letter today to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging him to ensure that Afghan women are equally and meaningfully represented in the peace process and that any agreement protects women’s rights. Research by the International Peace Institute shows that when women have a substantive role in peace negotiations, the likelihood the agreement will last beyond 15 years increases by as much as 35 percent. Recognizing the importance of women’s participation, Congress passed and President Trump signed into law the Women, Peace, and Security Act. As you know, that law makes it U.S. policy to promote women's meaningful participation in preventing, managing and resolving conflicts. Women from across Afghanistan have come together in an unprecedented way to call for their equal and meaningful participation in any ceasefire and peace process. Yet, when American diplomats met with the Taliban in Doha this February and May, Afghan women were not represented. Afghan women’s voices need to be heard – not just on women’s rights, but on the future of their country.  The letter ends, “As negotiations with the Taliban continue, women’s perspectives and the preservation of women’s rights and human rights should be at the center of your efforts, including by ensuring that women have a meaningful seat at the table. Sustainable peace in the country and the region depends upon it.”

Women Must Be Part of the Afghan Peace Process

Afghan women are leaders. They are central to building strong Afghan institutions and legal frameworks and creating opportunity for all Afghans. The current U.S. peace envoy, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, would be well served to call on them, and their expertise, as he seeks an elusive peace in Afghanistan. As part of any dialogue and debate about the future of Afghanistan, it is critical that the Afghan government, and Afghan citizens, be genuinely engaged in the process. This is not a process that should be reserved for the United States, some Afghan politicians, and the Taliban.

Afghan female leaders urge Trump administration to stand up for their rights in Taliban peace talks

The United States' chief negotiator for Afghanistan left Washington on Friday for stops around the globe to rally support for his talks with the Taliban before a seventh round of meetings with the militant group's leaders. But there's one constituency that's consistently voiced their concerns about the U.S. talks and is ringing the alarm again. In interviews, several prominent female Afghan leaders said these talks are an issue of life and death for Afghan women, and they will not allow their country to return to the dark days of oppression and abuse under a potential peace agreement with the Taliban. They're calling on U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad to do more to ensure women have a place at the negotiating table.

On displacement: “Where are you from?” By Swarna Rajagopalan

The memory of flight lives within most of us. When we read about people who relocate out of choice or are forced to leave their homes, we read from the standpoint of great stability. But migration and very likely, flight, are a part of virtually every family history, should we care to share and remember. The decision to come from the village to the town; the decision to take a job half-way across the country in a city where you do not understand the language, or the decision to leave with your documents (or without) and simply find the first road to safety—we are bound by the meaning this question holds: “Where are you from?”

The trauma of forced displacement. By Swarna Rajagopalan

The decision to leave is never easy. One builds a home with more than money and time, and this space holds more than objects—the corner your child was born; the first room around which two generations added others; the cot that you brought with you from your maternal home; the cow whose mother also was a member of the family. But you decide to survive, so you leave.

Civil Society Declaration for Revitalising South Asian Regional Cooperation

We, members of civil society networks of South Asia gathered in Colombo to deliberate on a South Asian Regional Agenda for Collective Advocacy on Human Rights, Peace and Democracy,* have resolved to re-energise collaborations across South Asian frontiers for peace, democracy and human rights.

Distressed by the progressive weakening of the inter-governmental SAARC organisation, we resolved to promote the spirit of regionalism among the peoples of South Asia while seeking to re-energise SAARC.

Noting that interactions between South Asian civil society organisations and individuals have declined over the past few years, for various reasons, the meeting recognised the urgent need to promote greater engagement between scholars, activists, professionals and politicians across South Asia.

Report on internally-displaced women from Punjab publicised

LAHORE - The Women’s Regional Network (Afghanistan, Pakistan and India) launched a report titled “Shattered Souls: Internally Displaced Women from Punjab, Pakistan” written by women’s rights activist Saima Jasam.

This report is part of a larger series of launches happening across three countries. This report focused on displaced women from different parts of all four provinces, mostly from KP. Women from Balochistan, KP, Sindh and some districts of Punjab have been displaced as a result of religious extremism/militancy or ethnic and sectarian conflict now residing in Punjab province.

Framework for IDP women stressed

LAHORE: Absence of any national policy and legal framework to address issues of IDPs (Internally Displaced Person’s) in line with the principles of the United Nation and Pinheiro Principles on housing and property restitution for refugees and displaced persons is one of the main reasons for the invisibility and plight of the IDPs living in Punjab. The Women’s Regional Network (Afghanistan, Pakistan and India) launches the report titled “Shattered Souls: Internally Displaced Women from Punjab, Pakistan” by women’s rights activist and development professional Saima Jasam. She has highlighted the issues of IDPs especially women.

WRN Community Conversations brings the Anti-Chutka Nuclear Power Movement in news

 The protests against Chutka nuclear power plant  is at the juncture of several issues cutting across concerns of predatory development, environmental alarms, forest rights and human rights, forced displacements, and a continuing fight for justice. 

This resistance against the Chutka Power plant is a part of a continued struggle against predatory forms of development that benefit only a certain section of the population to the disadvantage of those whose lands are acquired in the name of such ‘developmental’ projects. It is important to take cognisance that these struggles are not necessarily anti-development as they are made out to be in the popular imagination, but they actually question the politics of development that operates on a practice of unequal citizenship in the country. 

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​WRN conceptualises this as a case-study of a community affected by conflict and injustice, and has been documenting their voices for justice. 
#WRNIndia #VoicesforPeace #Standingtogether

WRN India Community Conversations brings issues of the marginalised communities to the forefront

Nuclear Power Plants so vociferously encouraged in our part of the world pose major threats to environment and mankind. Tribal communities along the Narmada river in Mandla district of Madhya Pradesh (India) have organised themselves to protest against the setting up of such a power-plant in Chutka.  

The protests against the chutka nuclear power plant is at the juncture of several issues cutting across concerns of predatory development, environmental alarms, forest rights and human rights,

forced displacements, and a continuing fight for justice.

 
This resistance against the Chutka Power plant is a part of a continued struggle against predatory forms of development that benefit only a certain section of the population to the disadvantage of those whose lands are acquired in the name of such ‘developmental’ projects. It is important to take cognisance that these struggles are not necessarily anti-development as they are made out to be in the popular imagination, but they actually question the politics of development that operates on a practice of unequal citizenship in the country.

WRN conceptualises this as a case-study of a community affected by conflict and injustice, and has been documenting their voices for justice. 

Plight of internally displaced persons highlighted

Islamabad : Absence of any national policy and legal framework to address the issues of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in line with guiding principles of United Nations is the main reason for invisibility and plight of IDPs living in Punjab. The issue was discussed extensively at the launch of the report titled ‘Shattered Souls: Internally Displaced Women from Punjab, Pakistan’ by Women’s Regional Network (WRN). The report is written by women’s rights activist and development professional Saima Jasam. The report launch was part of a larger series of launches happening across the member countries including Pakistan, India and Afghanistan as well as across cities in Pakistan.

Hindu women forced to become a sikh in Pakistan

Some women of the Hindu community in Pakistan say they have to be educated in the society for their protection.

Amit Koir, a resident of Hasan Abad, says, 'To accept the Sikh community, read Granth Sahib (Sikh's holy book) because there is no temple here, but at the time of disappointment I am forced to return to Bhagat Gita. '.

Many such problems have been mentioned in the recent report of the International Organization Women's Regional Network for Women's Rights. This report highlighted the problems of those refugees of Hindus, Sikhs and other minorities in Pakistan, especially female refugees who migrate from different areas of the country due to military operations, Taliban threats and other issues.

Afghan women have more say in money that they earned themselves than property in marriage

Zarqa Yaftali, WRN Board Member from Afghanistan shares  on unequal distribution of financial resources among men and women in the country.  

Kandahar Treasure gives Afghan women chance to earn money within the safety of societal rules but it now struggles

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Why our public discourse needs to improve for a better democracy

In recent weeks, I have been struck time and again by the deteriorating quality of discourse on social media. No, there is nothing new about an article that laments the quality of tweets or WhatsApp messages, but what really makes me anxious is how acceptable it has become to engage publicly in a way that rewards volume, vehemence and vitriol. The result is, I am learning more about the people who engage than about those they mean to criticise. 

Experts Speak Against Hatred Lessons Taught in School Currciula

PESHAWAR: The national curriculum was highly responsible for the ever-increasing hatred in the country, particularly against the religious minorities, said speakers at a seminar on minority rights. They also stressed the need to remove all hate material so that harmony can be created among different sections of society for a peaceful Pakistan. 

PTI Members Face Hearing After Offshore Accounts Uncovered

PESHAWAR: Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Shahram Khan Tarakai and his father Senator Liaqat Taraki face a hearing in Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on 23 June after named in Panama Paper after ANP Senator Bushra Gohar seeking their disqualification submitted a plea to the ECP.

Alarm at Ever-widening Misogynist Fringe

Members of the Joint Action Committee (JAC), the Human Rights Commission (HRCP) and the civil society have expressed alarm over the savage attacks that have been perpetrated on women in Pakistan over the last few weeks with frightening regularity.

Civil Society Concerned over Increasing Cases of Violence Against Women

Expressing their concerns over the increase in reports of violence against women in recent months, Karachi’s civil society activists urged on Wednesday that collective efforts be started for curbing such cases and demanded that the Council of Islamic Ideology be disbanded for its controversial statements and rulings. 

Why National and State Women’s Commissions are important and should be held accountable

Last week, following the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, a group of civil society activists from twelve organisations wrote a petition to the newly re-elected Chief Minister regarding appointments to the State Women’s Commission. They sent the petition to the Chief Minister’s cell for grievances and they also placed a petition online, which at the time of writing, after six days, has received only 62 signatures. 

Marginal notes on new draft of the National Policy for Women

The government announced a draft National Policy for Women this week and invited all of us to leave comments on the draft. The draft is just 24 pages long and the issue is important to all of us, so I begin this article by urging you to please take ownership of this issue and engage. 

‘Dalits in MP Village Living in Shadow of Terror’

A civil society members’ fact finding team has said that Dalits living in Dudlai village in MP’s Sehore district, which is chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s home district, are living under the “shadow of terror unleashed by the upper caste lobby”.

APS attack victims move PHC to make information on school carnage public

Mothers of victims of the Army Public School (APS) attack on Tuesday submitted an application to the Peshawar High Court (PHC) requesting the court to make them a party to the writ petition to seek orders for the federal and provincial governments to make all the information on the school carnage public.

In corridors of power: Equal opportunity for women stressed

Human rights activists have called for equal access and fullest participation of women in corridors of power and public institutes in addition to increasing their capacity to engage in decision-making and leadership roles.

Govt’s Pro-Women Moves Acknowledged

The government is committed to empowering women as it is the need of the hour that women are empowered to play their role in progress and development of the country.

Additionally, the prime minister has constituted a committee to formulate the National Women Empowerment Policy (NWEP) 2016.

Pakistan’s Schools at War Can the country stop the killing of its students?

Around 9 a.m. on January 20, four Taliban-affiliated gunmen entered Bacha Khan University, Charsadda in Pakistan’s volatile Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. By around 12:30 p.m., all four of them lay dead in the boys’ hostel. They had been gunned down by local security forces, but not before 21 people, mostly students and staff members, had been killed.

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This was the second high-profile attack on a Pakistani educational institute in 13 months. On December 16, 2014 the Army Public School in KP’s capital city Peshawar was attacked by militants, killing 144 people, including 132 schoolchildren. The gut-wrenching scenes from the APS attack are believed to be the defining factor behind Pakistan uniting to launch the much touted National Action Plan (NAP) against militancy and extremism.

Region for Women, Now and Then

Social barriers for women persisted in 2015. Women in K-P and Fata, nonetheless, managed to push through some mighty glass ceilings amid threats to agency and body. There is hope 2016 will be less oppressive, less unsafe. Some of these women shared their thoughts on empowerment with The Express Tribune.

Straddling Different Boundaries

Nationalism is a difficult notion for people living along the Indo-Myanmarese border. Of the same racial origin, they are bound by clan and kinship ties. The Naga-Kachin and Kuki-Chin tribes of Myanmar make routine visits to their relatives in Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram. Many come to buy their rations and groceries from Indian markets, which are closer to them than Yangon. But the fact that the ungoverned terrain of northwest Myanmar is also the hub of all militant outfits from the Northeastern region of India makes this movement problematic.

Women Activists Stress need for Transformative Feminist Leadership

LAHORE – More than 125 women activists from across Pakistan gathered in Lahore to attend the national conference of Shirkat Gah – Women’s Resource Centre’s Women’s Empowerment and Leadership Development for Democratization (WELDD) programme. WELDD is a transnational programme developed in partnership with the international solidarity network Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) and the Asia-based Institute for Women’s Empowerment (IWE) which has been run in some 18 countries.

Rise for Revolution 2016 plans from around the world

On our launch day 29 Sept , which is also THE GLOBAL WOMEN’S CLIMATE JUSTICE DAY OF ACTION we shall focus our programs on the issues of Climate Change. Let’s bring together grassroots activists, indigenous leaders, business leaders, farmers, scientists, policy makers, academics and artists on the issue. In India, Climate Justice is inseparable from Economic Justice for our farmers and throughout the movement, let’s strive to have their voices heard.

15 years of Resolution 1325: Why are women still not included at the peace table?

Yesterday, a photo did the rounds on the Internet showing the Syrian Peace Talks as what is now called a “manel” - a panel with only men. The irony of this in a fortnight filled with discussions about the 15th anniversary of UN Security Council 1325, was not lost on feminist peace activists or international relations scholars. At a moment, when maybe some of us had read, written and heard so much about 1325 that we thought there was nothing left to say or do, this picture reminded us of why this conversation started in the first place.  

5 Reasons the United Nations Still Matters at 70

It is fashionable to be a United Nations sceptic but as the UN turns 70 on October 24, it still has a role to play in our lives. Here are five reasons why.

Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice Women PeaceMakers 2015-WRN Member Judge Najla Ayubi from Afghanistan is selected

As one of the Institute for Peace and Justice's flagship programs, the Women PeaceMakers program documents the stories and best practices of international women leaders who are involved in human rights and peacemaking efforts in their home countries.

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Women on the frontlines of efforts to end violence and secure a just peace seldom record their experiences, activities and insights, as generally there is no time, or, perhaps, no formal education that would help them record their work.

N-Peace Awards WRN Member Shad Begum nominated from Pakistan

N-Peace is a multi-country network of peace advocates in Asia seeking to advance Women, Peace & Security (WPS) issues. It supports women’s leadership for conflict prevention, resolution and peace building, and promotes the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325, and related resolutions, at regional, national and community levels.

A handy guide to helping NGOs effect social change

Civil society—the NGO sector—bridges the gulf between citizens and government. When governments treat this bridge with hostility, it is the citizen who is distanced and whose interests have no interlocutor.

Written by WRN Member Swarna Rajagopalan

Stories beyond borders: ‘Herstory’ tells the tales of the women’s movement in Pakistan

A collaboration with Stories Beyond Borders, this oral history project is a collection of video interviews of women who have dominated the struggles of women’s rights movement in Pakistan since 1983. The collection of video interviews started in September, 2014, and continues to this day.

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This article features WRN Pakistan Member Farhat Parveen and WRN supporter Anis Haroon.

Court seeks ECP reply in Dir by-polls case- WRN Pakistan Members respond

PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Thursday directed the Election Commission of Pakistan to respond to Jamaat-i-Islami candidate Aizazul Mulk Afkari’s petition seeking orders for the notification of his election as MPA from the provincial assembly constituency, PK-95, Lower Dir.

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WRN Pakistan Members responded to the incident and are mentioned in this article.

Shad Begum discusses the Women’s Polling Station in Chakdara, Lower Dir, Pakistan

Our Member Shad Begum is interviewed by Israr Khan from Khyber News at a women's polling station in Chakdara in the lower Dir District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan where woman have been battling for their right to vote in their parlimentary byelection. 

One year of Modi government: The gender equality report card

How do you assess a government’s performance of one year on solving a problem that is older than time? Really, one’s best answer is speculative. And when that problem is gender discrimination, one is in fact grasping at straws to find something that can be assessed honestly and meaningfully.

WRN Video- Why The Women’s Regional Network?

WRN Members and supporters explain why they feel the Network brings value to their existing work and is a platform for regional peace and advocacy in South Asia.

WRN Panel Session at WILPF's conference Women's Power to Stop War!

How do like-minded women develop networks for peace? Bringing voices from the field and rooted in a practitioner’s perspective, this creative, interactive session will explore the models, challenges and successes of bringing grassroots voices to the fore and communicating women’s peacemaking agency to stakeholders at all levels.

Najla Ayubi Discusses death of Farkhunda in Afghanistan VoA Dari

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Pak- India Forum 20th Anniversary Commemorative Seminar on Understanding Pakistan Today

“India and Pakistan are neighbours who are open to the world but closed to each other” - Pakistan’s foremost human rights activist and public intellectual I.A. Rehman said in New Delhi at a memorable Seminar on Understanding Pakistan Today aimed at challenging the dangerous myths and prejudices that are manipulated by self-serving elites and institutional interests with utter disregard for the common concerns and futures of the peoples of the two countries. The Pakistan India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) brought some 15 of Pakistan’s well known academics, public intellectuals, lawyers and human rights activists to India to unpack the enigma of Pakistan at the Seminar organized in partnership with the India International Centre on March 4-5, 2015. It provided a rare opportunity for a varied group of Indian participants to engage with the complex dynamics of Pakistan’s contemporary social economic and political reality overturning the stereotypical narratives derived from western geo-strategic perspectives and interests.

SAGE Series in Human Rights Audits of Peace Processes

The SAGE Series in Human Rights Audits of Peace Processes provides an overview of peace-audit study and explores why many peace processes fail. It provides comparative analyses of peace processes in South Asia drawn from field-based audit exercises in four regions: Northeast India; Balochistan, Pakistan; Madhesh, Nepal; and Chittagong Hills Tracts, Bangladesh.

The WRN Core Member for India Rita Manchanda is the editor of this series.

Smashing Flowers- The Taliban’s attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar

The loss of lives of innocent school children have shook the conscience of people around the world. There are statements of condemnations and sympathies for the bereaved families. The school children in Pakistan, even in India, stood in solidarity with the parents of the martyred children. Politicians, civil society, the government, the military, the judiciary and media – all stood united to formulate a united response to the horrific tragedy of the Peshawar school attack. The Parliamentary Committee came up with an Action Plan to deal with terrorism in Pakistan, yet there are questions that remain un-answered.